A shopper walked the aisles of Wal-Mart needing to buy a few things before Christmas.  He chose Wal-Mart for the best price on winter floor mats for his car but also needing to pick up inexpensive batteries for a toy he bought his niece.   Not far from the rechargeable batteries he spied an amazing deal.  It was a portable DVD player with a built in mini LCD display selling for a mere $50.  Our Wall-Mart shopper automatically tossed the incredible bargain into his cart without considering if he had any use for such a device.

The no-brand portable device was never inspected closely by our shopper because after all, it’s outrageously cheap.  The shopper didn’t care to read the specs on the box that state a charge from its non-removable batteries only lasted 1.5 hours (shorter than most DVD movies).  Nor did it matter that the LCD screen was made from left over panel material from a sweat-shop in Zhenjiang China, deemed unsuitable (with too many bad pixels) for any of the name brand consumer devices the factory had been contracted to build.

The shopper, proud of his thrifty nature gleefully continued up the aisle.  Then he happened upon a wise old sage.

“Oh, wise sage of ancient wisdom.”  The shopper said to the sage.  “Will you teach me how to get the most of my Christmas shopping dollar?”

The sage eyed the contents of the Wal-Mart shoppers cart and then spoke.

“I can show you how to make $50 cash with a mere wave of the arm.”

Wide eyed with disbelief the puzzled the shopper begged the sage demonstrate and teach him the secret to making $50 cash with a single wave of the arm.  The venerable sage leaned over the shoppers cart and plucked the LCD portable DVD player from his cart and tossed it back onto a nearby shelf.  As the elderly sage turned to walk away the shopper exclaimed.  “But venerable sage!  What about the $50 dollars?”  The sage left the shopper with these final words.

“It’s already in your pocket.”